The independent community of researchers released respective report on Friday

Anti-aircraft missile launcher Buk that presumably downed the Boeing 777 of Malaysian Airlines over Donetsk region in summer 2014 belonged to pro-Kremlin guerillas or Russian regular troops. The Bellingcat group mentioned this in their report released at their website on March 4.

The key argument for such version is the fact that the weapon was convoyed by two vehicles that belonged to militants.

In particular, Paris Match newspaper published a photo where the Buk was accompanied by grey Toyota RAV4 with non-custom spoiler on the roof and a spare wheel.

Both vehicles were spotted on July 15, two days before the disaster, as a part of a militants’ vehicle convoy in Donetsk.

Based of exterior design of the cars, the Bellingcat experts assumed that the vehicles spotted on July 15 and 19 are the same. Thus, they made the conclusion that the Buk belonged either to militants or Russian troops.

Previously, Bellingcat said that the responsibility for the MH17 tragedy partially rests with top-rank commanders of the Russian army; the list starts with the names of President Vladimir Putin – the Supreme Commander of Russia’s Armed Forces – and the country’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

As is known, Boeing 777 of Malaysian Airlines that was on its way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was downed over Donetsk region on July 17, 2014. 298 people were aboard. None of the passengers or the crew survived.